STAAR Volume 3 - St. Anne's MCR

Recommendations

Info

17 <strong>STAAR</strong>|Vol 3|Munish Sikka|2011 Assessing Opportunities for a Sustainable Wood-biomass Energy System in Southeast Alaska Munish Sikka Abstract: In Southeast (SE) Alaska, the local communities based on different islands are dependent on oil for heating and are therefore facing enormous challenges due to globally increasing oil prices. The high cost of energy in the far North has constrained the local economy and is a major roadblock in the development of the region. The present study looks at the potential benefits of developing a local wood-pellet industry in Southeast Alaska by utilising residues from local saw-mills and logging operations. The study explores the economic, environmental and social benefits of developing a sustainable wood-pellet industry that displaces fossil-fuel for heating energy in the region. It also briefly discusses the Alaska’s historic land settlement act of 1971 that gave land rights to local communities by organising them into corporations. These corporations can further play important role in the development of local wood-pellet industry. Introduction The region of Southeast (SE) Alaska is a resource-dependent economy with communities relying primarily upon hunting, fishing, timber, mining, and tourism for their livelihood. The region comprises of more than a dozen communities with populations from as low as 50 and to over 30,000 (Juneau, the state capital) residents located throughout the archipelago. These communities draw their energy either from local hydro-power stations or fossil-fuels (oil/dieseloil) imported via sea-routes. Whilst hydro energy is a major source of electricity in the region, for heating buildings, most communities rely upon oil (Alexander, Henderson,&Coleman, 2010, p.84). The increase in global oil prices has therefore left these rural communities to face an energy crisis, threatening their very survival. Therefore a concerted effort to promote small-scale, self-sustaining energy options in rural areas is required to meet the energy needs of the region and the entire state of Alaska. Besides the high cost of oil, there is an environmental risk involved in shipping, handling and storing the petroleum products, especially the potential for spills in the harsh Alaskan climate and ocean conditions (Alexander et al.,2010,p.8). While exploring avenues for alternative energy, it is important to note that the region is home to the Tongass National Forest spread over 17 million acres of land. Under the Tongass Land Management Plan developed for the region, 576,000 acres is designated as suitable for timber harvest. Therefore, an enormous potential lies in converting locally available forest-biomass into wood-pellets or other forms of clean and affordable biomass-energy. One unique feature associated with Alaska is the “Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act” (ANCSA) of 1971 that aimed to settle Native Americans’ claims to virtually all of Alaska’s roughly 400 million acres of land. This was done by organising Alaska’s hunting and gathering peoples into 13 regional and 220 village corporations. The corporations were devised as an institutional means to give the native tribes the capital, infrastructure and incentives to develop and manage
18 <strong>STAAR</strong>|Vol 3|Munish Sikka|2011 their own natural assets, thereby increasing their self-sufficiency and reducing the government’s trust responsibility (Thornton, 2007). The Sealaska Corporation is one of the regional corporations formed under ANCSA and is involved in the land and natural resource management in SE Alaska (Sealaska - Who We Are, 2011). Sealaska recently installed a wood-pellet based heating system in their office building in Juneau as a potential step in biomass energy development. The Corporation is further taking steps to develop a regional industry for wood-pellets including through: Spreading awareness amongst the native community members and policy makers, regarding the benefits of switching from oil to wood-pellets to heat buildings; and Capacity building of existing saw-mills to start a wood-pellet production facility. Developing a biomass-energy industry in the region that produces wood-pellets to be consumed as heating fuel is expected to benefit the region in several ways. These wood-pellets could be made from current saw-mill and logging residues in SE Alaska and does not require any new tree to be harvested particularly for biomass-energy. The fact that residues often have low or even negative costs and therefore could be utilised for development of biomass-energy is also supported by Rosillo-Calle et al.(2007,pp.6-7). These authors suggest that residues from forestry and agricultural activities are a large and underexploited potential energy resource, almost always under-estimated and represent many opportunities for better utilisation. Globally the energy potential available from residues is about 70 Exa Joules 9 (EJ) including 36 EJ from forestry residues alone. However, these estimates are regarded as rough indications only with considerable variation estimated. The present study attempts to identify potential economic, environmental and social benefits of establishing a wood-pellet industry in the region. These three types of benefits together constitute the Triple Bottom Line framework of sustainability (Slaper & Hall, 2011). In order to demonstrate the environmental benefits, the study uses the emission factor values published by Obernberger & Thek (2010,p.305) to calculate the potential savings in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions that could be achieved by displacing oil with wood-pellets as heating fuel in residential and commercial buildings. The study further examines a potential demand-supply scenario using the available literature and conducts the price sensitivity analysis of wood-pellet and oil. This sensitivity analysis is based on a methodology developed by Brackley, Barber, & Pinkel (2010,p.19) where the price per unit of energy is determined at different prices of oil and woodpellets. Methods The current study is based on an in-depth literature review, participant observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants on the existing energy situation and trends in the forest industry in Southeast Alaska. Semi-structured interviews are composed of predetermined questions, but the order and content of the questions can be modified based upon the 9 1 EJ = 10 18 Joules
Page 1 and 2: ISBN 2048-2566
Page 3 and 4: About the Contributors STAAR 2011 A
Page 5 and 6: The Editors STAAR 2011 The Editors
Page 7 and 8: Word from the Editors/Daria Luchins
Page 9 and 10: 8 St Anne’s Subject Family Events
Page 11 and 12: 10 STAAR|Vol 3|Gregory Ross|2011 pl
Page 13 and 14: 12 STAAR|Vol 3|Gregory Ross|2011 la
Page 15 and 16: 14 STAAR|Vol 3|Naomi Walker|2011 an
Page 17: 16 St Anne’s Research In this sec
Page 21 and 22: 20 STAAR|Vol 3|Munish Sikka|2011 Ca
Page 23 and 24: 22 STAAR|Vol 3|Munish Sikka|2011 an
Page 25 and 26: 24 STAAR|Vol 3|Robert Seddon|2011 2
Page 27 and 28: 26 STAAR|Vol 3|Robert Seddon|2011 R
Page 29 and 30: 28 STAAR|Vol 3|Mark Uttley|2011 Thi
Page 31 and 32: References 30 STAAR|Vol 3|Mark Uttl
Page 33 and 34: 32 STAAR|Vol 3|Nilu Satharasinghe|2
Page 35: 34 STAAR|Vol 3|Nilu Satharasinghe|2

STAAR Volume 3 - St. Anne's MCR

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?